【雙語閱讀】美國(guó)企業(yè)管理.

　　雙語閱讀：美國(guó)企業(yè)管理 二十年前，Bob Monks在《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》登了一則廣告，聲稱Sears公司董事會(huì)成員為"不良資產(chǎn)"，并徒勞希望能被當(dāng)選為其中一員。 如今，激進(jìn)股東們僅需建立一個(gè)網(wǎng)站。 北京時(shí)間4月2日，對(duì)沖基金Third Point掌門丹尼爾.勒布(Daniel Loeb)發(fā)布了名為ValueYahoo.com的網(wǎng)站，該網(wǎng)站滿載著復(fù)興這困境中掙扎的網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司(Yahoo!)的建議提案。

　　Business

　　Corporate governance in America

　　Heating up

　　Shareholders are ever more willing to vote against management

　　TWENTY years ago Bob Monks bought an ad in the Wall Street Journal declaring members of the board of Sears, to which he hoped (in vain) to be elected, "non-performing assets". Nowadays, shareholder activists just create a website. On April 2nd Dan Loeb, a hedge-fund boss, launched valueyahoo.com, which brims with proposals for reviving the struggling web firm. Mr Loeb is trying to get himself elected to Yahoo!&aposs board against the wishes of its managers-a fight that could be the highlight of the annual corporate proxy season that is getting under way. He may win the shareholder vote, if Yahoo! does not strike a deal with him first.

　　Several hedge funds are urging shareholders to give boards a good kicking. Starboard Value has nominated five candidates to the board of AOL, another ailing web firm.

　　On April 2nd Pershing Square added a seventh candidate to the alternative slate of directors it has nominated to the board of Canadian Pacific Railway. Shareholder activism is "getting back to normal after the financial crisis of 2008," says Peter Harkins of D.F. King, a firm that advises participants in proxy contests. It is not just hedge funds that are flexing their shareholderly muscles, pension funds are at it, too.

　　On March 27th it was reported that Goldman Sachs had made peace with the pension fund of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which had proposed a resolution to split the roles of chi executive and chairman, both of which are held by Lloyd Blankfein. The bank convinced AFSCME to withdraw its proposal by agreeing to appoint a "lead director" to keep Mr Blankfein in check. The union has made similar proposals at several firms, including JPMorgan Chase, whose boss AFSCME&aposs president calls the "most dangerous man in America". Rupert Murdoch, the embattled chairman and chi executive of News Corporation, will face a motion that he surrender his chairmanship to someone independent.

　　Two other issues are expected to attract scrutiny from shareholders this year. One is bosses&apos pay. Investors will show "a little more backbone" in curbing it, "having rather fluffed it last year", predicts Anne Simpson, who oversees the corporate-governance activities of CalPERS, a giant pension fund for California&aposs public employees. Many boards struggled to win 70% support for pay packages last year, the first time such votes were required.

　　This year, several could lose the vote (which is not binding) unless they have linked pay more explicitly to performance, reckons Paul Hodgson of GMI Ratings, a firm that measures corporate governance. Perhaps the most contentious resolutions will be those demanding that firms be more transparent about their political spending, and requiring boards to ensure that this money is used in the interests of shareholders, not managers. This fort is being fiercely resisted. The US Chamber of Commerce argues that these resolutions, which mostly come from shareholders who are also trade unions or social activists, are not in the best interests of the firms concerned. Jim Copland of the Manhattan Institute, a think-tank, says that "some of these proposals may serve primarily to chill corporate political speech broadly, including on issues that most diversified shareholders-as distinguished from the proposals&apos sponsors-might prer that the corporation&aposs views be heard."

　　Well, maybe. But, as with the other issues on the proxy this year, that is for shareholders to decide.

　　【中文對(duì)照翻譯】

　　商業(yè)

　　美國(guó)企業(yè)治理

　　代理權(quán)爭(zhēng)奪戰(zhàn)升溫

　　股東們比以前更愿意投管理層的反對(duì)票

　　二十年前，Bob Monks在《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》登了一則廣告，聲稱Sears公司董事會(huì)成員為"不良資產(chǎn)"，并徒勞希望能被當(dāng)選為其中一員。 如今，激進(jìn)股東們僅需建立一個(gè)網(wǎng)站。 北京時(shí)間4月2日，對(duì)沖基金Third Point掌門丹尼爾.勒布(Daniel Loeb)發(fā)布了名為ValueYahoo.com的網(wǎng)站，該網(wǎng)站滿載著復(fù)興這困境中掙扎的網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司(Yahoo!)的建議提案。 丹尼爾.勒布違背公司高層的意愿正試圖讓自己當(dāng)選為雅虎董事會(huì)成員。這場(chǎng)沖突可能是當(dāng)下一年一度公司代理權(quán)季節(jié)中最精彩的部分。 如果雅虎事先不和他達(dá)成交易，或許他會(huì)贏得股東們的選票。

　　幾家對(duì)沖基金正使股東給董事會(huì)帶來一個(gè)相當(dāng)大了挫折打擊。 股東Starboard Value已提供了5名候選人給美國(guó)在線公司董事會(huì)，這是另一家境況不佳的網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司。

　　北京時(shí)間4月2日，潘興廣場(chǎng)對(duì)沖基金在加拿大太平洋鐵路的董事會(huì)理事成員提名中增加了第七位候選人。 D.F. King 公司Peter Harkins說到：股東激進(jìn)主義在2008年金融危機(jī)后正恢復(fù)正常，該公司建議參與代理權(quán)的爭(zhēng)奪。 不僅是對(duì)沖基金還有養(yǎng)老基金同樣顯示著股東們的實(shí)力。

　　據(jù)報(bào)道，3月27日高盛投資公司與美國(guó)州縣市雇員聯(lián)盟(American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees，簡(jiǎn)稱AFSCME)養(yǎng)老基金達(dá)成交易，協(xié)議提出了要將高盛的首席執(zhí)行官和董事長(zhǎng)職務(wù)分別由兩人擔(dān)任的決議，而這都在高盛首席執(zhí)行官布蘭克費(fèi)恩掌控之下。 高盛說服美國(guó)州縣市雇員聯(lián)盟撤銷這個(gè)提案，并同意任命一位首席董事來維持布蘭克費(fèi)恩的檢查。 該聯(lián)盟組織已在幾家公司給出過類似的提案，包括摩根大通公司，而其老板被美國(guó)州縣市雇員聯(lián)盟董事長(zhǎng)稱之為"美國(guó)最危險(xiǎn)的人"。 新聞公司處境艱難的主席兼首席執(zhí)行官魯伯特?默多克將面對(duì)交出他的主席身份給獨(dú)立人士的意向。

　　今年預(yù)計(jì)有另外兩個(gè)議題將吸引股東的審查。 其中一項(xiàng)就是領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的薪資。 安妮?辛普森監(jiān)督著CalPERS(一個(gè)巨大的加州公職人員養(yǎng)老基金)公司的管理活動(dòng)，他預(yù)測(cè)在去年已搞砸的基礎(chǔ)上，投資人將體現(xiàn)出在控制領(lǐng)導(dǎo)薪資方面的骨干作用。 去年，在薪酬福利上面許多懂事會(huì)成員都竭力得到70%的支持，需要這樣的選票還是第一次。

　　企業(yè)治理咨詢公司GMI評(píng)級(jí)(GMI Ratings) 的研究員哈吉森(Paul Hodgson)認(rèn)為如果他們的薪酬不與績(jī)效相連的話，今天或許有幾位懂事會(huì)失去沒有約束力的選票。 或許最具爭(zhēng)議的決議就是需要公司更多地明確他們政治上的支出，同時(shí)要求董事會(huì)確保所使用的資金都是以考慮股東的利益為前提而不是管理人員。 這方面的努力正遭到激烈的抵抗。 美國(guó)商會(huì)認(rèn)為這樣的決議沒有考慮到公司利益的最大化，而主要考慮的是股東，但或許他們還是貿(mào)易聯(lián)盟或是社會(huì)激進(jìn)主義分子。 智囊團(tuán)吉姆柯普蘭的曼哈頓學(xué)院稱道，這其中的一些提議或許主要是冷卻一下公司廣泛政治演講的熱度。 包括在一些重要議題上大多數(shù)多元化股東有別于建議的贊助商，他們更愿意聽到公司的觀點(diǎn)。

　　嗯,也許吧。 但是，今年另一個(gè)關(guān)于代理權(quán)的議題是為股東決定的。

　　雙語閱讀：美國(guó)企業(yè)管理 二十年前，Bob Monks在《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》登了一則廣告，聲稱Sears公司董事會(huì)成員為"不良資產(chǎn)"，并徒勞希望能被當(dāng)選為其中一員。 如今，激進(jìn)股東們僅需建立一個(gè)網(wǎng)站。 北京時(shí)間4月2日，對(duì)沖基金Third Point掌門丹尼爾.勒布(Daniel Loeb)發(fā)布了名為ValueYahoo.com的網(wǎng)站，該網(wǎng)站滿載著復(fù)興這困境中掙扎的網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司(Yahoo!)的建議提案。

　　Business

　　Corporate governance in America

　　Heating up

　　Shareholders are ever more willing to vote against management

　　TWENTY years ago Bob Monks bought an ad in the Wall Street Journal declaring members of the board of Sears, to which he hoped (in vain) to be elected, "non-performing assets". Nowadays, shareholder activists just create a website. On April 2nd Dan Loeb, a hedge-fund boss, launched valueyahoo.com, which brims with proposals for reviving the struggling web firm. Mr Loeb is trying to get himself elected to Yahoo!&aposs board against the wishes of its managers-a fight that could be the highlight of the annual corporate proxy season that is getting under way. He may win the shareholder vote, if Yahoo! does not strike a deal with him first.

　　Several hedge funds are urging shareholders to give boards a good kicking. Starboard Value has nominated five candidates to the board of AOL, another ailing web firm.

　　On April 2nd Pershing Square added a seventh candidate to the alternative slate of directors it has nominated to the board of Canadian Pacific Railway. Shareholder activism is "getting back to normal after the financial crisis of 2008," says Peter Harkins of D.F. King, a firm that advises participants in proxy contests. It is not just hedge funds that are flexing their shareholderly muscles, pension funds are at it, too.

　　On March 27th it was reported that Goldman Sachs had made peace with the pension fund of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which had proposed a resolution to split the roles of chi executive and chairman, both of which are held by Lloyd Blankfein. The bank convinced AFSCME to withdraw its proposal by agreeing to appoint a "lead director" to keep Mr Blankfein in check. The union has made similar proposals at several firms, including JPMorgan Chase, whose boss AFSCME&aposs president calls the "most dangerous man in America". Rupert Murdoch, the embattled chairman and chi executive of News Corporation, will face a motion that he surrender his chairmanship to someone independent.

　　Two other issues are expected to attract scrutiny from shareholders this year. One is bosses&apos pay. Investors will show "a little more backbone" in curbing it, "having rather fluffed it last year", predicts Anne Simpson, who oversees the corporate-governance activities of CalPERS, a giant pension fund for California&aposs public employees. Many boards struggled to win 70% support for pay packages last year, the first time such votes were required.

　　This year, several could lose the vote (which is not binding) unless they have linked pay more explicitly to performance, reckons Paul Hodgson of GMI Ratings, a firm that measures corporate governance. Perhaps the most contentious resolutions will be those demanding that firms be more transparent about their political spending, and requiring boards to ensure that this money is used in the interests of shareholders, not managers. This fort is being fiercely resisted. The US Chamber of Commerce argues that these resolutions, which mostly come from shareholders who are also trade unions or social activists, are not in the best interests of the firms concerned. Jim Copland of the Manhattan Institute, a think-tank, says that "some of these proposals may serve primarily to chill corporate political speech broadly, including on issues that most diversified shareholders-as distinguished from the proposals&apos sponsors-might prer that the corporation&aposs views be heard."

　　Well, maybe. But, as with the other issues on the proxy this year, that is for shareholders to decide.

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